Over the weekend, BMW launched a new commercial advertising the new 330e, a sleek-looking hybrid sedan that is far more stylish than the funky looking BMW i3 and much more affordable than the jaw-dropping BMW i8.
What’s interesting about the commercial, though, is that it’s mostly a not-so-thinly-veiled jab at Tesla’s upcoming Model 3. As a quick refresher, Tesla unveiled the $35,000 Model3 this past April and has since secured more than 370,000 reservations, a particularly impressive figure given that deliveries aren’t scheduled to begin until 2017.
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That said, the immense interest surrounding a car that, realistically speaking, most reservation holders won’t even be able to drive until 2018 has clearly ruffled a few feathers across the auto industry. Not only are traditional luxury automakers like Mercedes and Porsche doubling down on their EV efforts, but now we have BMW trying to sell a car in 2016 by making fun of a car that may not be widely available until 2018.
The commercial — appropriately dubbed Waiting — is basically a list all of the things that will happen between now and when the Model 3 becomes available. The commercial doesn’t reference the Model 3 by name, but it’s clearly obvious what is being referred to.
“You can do do your taxes,” the narrator says. “Twice. Maybe more. You will ring in the New Year. Twice. Maybe more. You will wait, and wait, and wait some more. All before that electric car company’s new model even arrives.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v0QKtPXEFQ
While a decent ad in and of itself, I’m not quite sure that Tesla’s passionate fanbase will be swayed by the fact that they can get a car they’re likely not interested in sooner than the Model 3 they’re very much interested in.
That aside, BMW’s message here isn’t that far off base. Every single Tesla vehicle ever launched — from the Roadster all the way up to the recently launched Model X — has been subject to significant delays. Consequently, if the Model 3 does in fact launch sometime in late 2017, it will be a pleasant surprise for everyone involved.
